Tips on Obtaining Good Health Care

Ragen Chastain, author of the Dances With Fat
blog, wrote a blog post providing suggestions for how to talk to
health care professionals. She also includes files to print up on paper
or postcards to give your doctor. They briefly introduce HAES and
include links to further research.

Tracey Carr, an advocate for health care for fat people in the UK,
maintains a page of some fat people's answers to the question "What do
you wish your Doctor knew?". This is useful as an example of issues that
fat people sometimes experience when visiting health professionals. Not
all health professionals do these things. Read it here (Offsite
link).

To obtain the best health care from any professional, it's good to be
informed, to know what you want, and to speak up for yourself.

Tip: Keep records

Health professionals can treat you best if you provide them with as much
information as you can. Keep records of health problems you've had and
how they were treated, positive and negative experiences with medicines
and other treatments you've undergone. If you know that a particular
problem recurs, give the professional as much information as you have
about the circumstances under which it recurs. This may help avoid a
misdiagnosis.

Tip: Bring an advocate

If you are uncomfortable with health professionals, you can bring along
an advocate (a friend or SO) to help you communicate.

Tip: Write down questions beforehand

If you have questions you want to ask, you can write them down
beforehand. You will then remember what to ask, and in some cases can
even give the professional your list of questions.

Tip: Set up an interview

When seeking a new health professional, you can often set up an
appointment to interview him or her (in person or over the phone) before
scheduling an actual medical appointment. This will allow you to discuss
your concerns without the vulnerability you might feel in the examining
room.

Tip: Send a letter

If you know how you want to be treated (for example, if you don't want
to be weighed) but don't want to risk a verbal confrontation, you can
send a letter outlining your wishes to the office before your
appointment, or upon your arrival you can give the staff a letter to be
kept in your file. If you have a preferred treatment philosophy (for
example, if you prefer to avoid being given drugs if other treatments
are available) you can describe it in the letter.

Tip: Be sensitive, but not oversensitive

A health professional may mention your weight from time to time. It is
important that he or she tell you all the things that might contribute
to your condition. Mentioning that weight may be a factor is not the
same as telling you to lose weight. On the other hand, if a health
professional mentions your weight in the context of treating you for a
condition entirely unrelated to weight, such as a sinus infection, that
probably warrants a comment that you want to be treated for the
condition you came in with, not for your weight.

If you are concerned you might interpret your professional's statements
in the wrong way, bringing along a supportive advocate might help. You
can compare notes and impressions afterward.